THE EVOLUTION OF THE DARK SIDE OF OZ.

27

2007 & 2008

2009

THE "DARK SIDE OF OZ" REVEALED:

After the 2 years of screening "The Dark Side of the Rainbow" on The Mystic Theatre's 30'x50' screen for staff and friends, I realized that in order to go further with this urban legend, I would have to reveal all of the synchornistic elements in the only way that I saw possible, make a fully edited live version. After approx 9 months of editing and experimenting the long road led me to the key that unlocked this mother of all syncs, now appropriately named "The Dark Side of Oz." I performed the 1st master sync in 2 parts for free to a very receptive audience on August 12th 2009. I wanted to pay tribute to the Grand Opening of "The Wizard of Oz" at the Oconomawoc Theater in Wisconsin August 12th 1939. This was possibly the 1st live screening ever to displayed all of the dialog and special effects from TWoZ interwoven into the music of Pink Floyd's DSoTM.

2010

"DARK SIDE DUB THE MOON":

Because it takes 2 1/2 repetitions of DSOTM to equal the length of "The Wizard of Oz" it wasn't long before I began to look for other ways that I could vary the grand sync, while still maintaining all of the original synchronistic cues (now well over 100+). It was while I was engineering at The Mystic Theatre that I had the opportunity to work with the reggae band The Easy Star All Star's where I discovered their new album "Dub Side of The Moon." The band knew of the urban legend sync and had timed their album to match! This unlocked another element of the puzzle... variation on a theme and even exposed new characters like The Reggae Lion! I realized that I now had a show on my hands and that it required more staging and preparations to keep it interesting and get it moving forward. It was largely because of staging, concept and copyright concerns, that I adapted some new characters and precautions to protect myself and my DSoOZ performances. I perform the illusion as close to the WoOZ release date of August 12th date so I can refer to it as "A Tribute" I never charge for the class screening and make no profit what so ever. It is a major calling card for me. I perform & teach as a Fake Professor with a D.O.P.E. degree so it is considered an educational experience.

 2011

 "DARK SIDE DUB THE MOONSHINE":

Tribute bands were beginning to become very popular on the club and concert scene in 2011 and a number of bands took good advantage of that trend by exploring their dark side. One of my local favorite bluegrass bands, Poor Man's Whiskey emerged to not only conquer the local scene but the national one as well by retelling Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" in a fun bluegrass vein! Their version was entitled "Dark Side of the Moonshine" and they video recorded their performance at The Mystic Theatre. Oddly I was not there, I was vacationing in Hawaii and wasn't available... a missed opportunity in my book! I decided that since I wasn't at the official recording performance, I would create my own performance and invite the band into it. And so I did... I created what I entitled "Dark Side Dub The Moonshine," a 2 part live mix screening mashup of an evening that included Rock, reggae and bluegrass into one big pot of Sonoma County gold. For the 1st time I added a live band performance to The Dark Side Class. Poor Man's Whisky was featured in full costumes, which featured all of the Wizard of Oz characters. Their performance even included Eli Jedidiah as Dorothy riding a bicycle and performing "On The Run" on the spokes of the bike. I cut sections of their music to fit the movie, the only time I dropped the original cue list to do so and laughed to myself as I watched them watch themselves on the screen! Good press and good bands... my show was building... or was it?

2012 

"THE DARK SIDE OF OZ" - OCCUPY OZ / OZ FEST:

I had a lot on my plate as Chief Sound Engineer & Production Manager at The Mystic, National & International bands coming through daily it seemed. Enough hyper activity around me professionally that I honestly didn't know If I should or could continue with more of my live Dark Side class performances, after all it takes me about 3 months of intense editing to create the mother of all syncs.  I decided that I would do one more performance and to do that I would have to blow up the concept and quit while I was a head, much like a magician performing and then showing you all of his tricks! My concept became clear as the year went on and I had little choice. It was the year of OCCUPY and there were protesters everywhere pitching tents in the name of protesting. I agreed with their voices and spun my own version of occupying and bringing the message forward my own personal way. I established stage rules for this performance!

I placed a triangle pop up tent up rear center stage and then cut the back out of it so the only way to get on and off stage was through the back of the tent itself. The tent was "loaded" with a fog machine, multi-colored spinning lights and video controller and monitor for my show and myself. I ran a 2nd projector on stage that night with a triangle image that I cut that was directed towards the zipper screen of the tent, making it a great place to project imagery of fire smoke and lighting effects. I occupied that tent for most of the day before the show and came out on cue through a haze of lights & fog dressed as Ozzie Osborn to host the show. What no Professor... everyone said! I bumbled around the stage mumbling and hosting the entire event like I had stolen it!

I had so much fun the year before with Poor Man's Whiskey's performance on last years show that I asked my good friends "The Highway Poets" to join me on stage that year and play a short musical segment on the break again. I dubbed the band "The Lollipop Poets" and asked them to sing an acoustic version of  "The Lollipop Guild", with a couple of twists... Since you had to enter and exit through the  rear of the tent center stage, just before the performance I asked the boys to take off their shoes and give them to me. As I was bumbling around and I introducing the The Lollipop Poets, I was placing their shoes in front of the tent in a long line. On cue, I introduced the band and as they came out of the tent on their hands and knees, I asked them to place their knees in their respective shoes... yes Munchkins! The illusion was almost complete until I added the helium balloons to the boys and asked them to inhale and sing a few rousing choruses of... "We Represent the Lollipop Guild." A proud moment for me... a ridiculous moment... and for me personally, the best reward possible!

Not 1 photo exists that I know of... the audience was in a state of slack jawed with awe, even my photographer's missed their opportunity!

2013

"THE DARK SIDE OF OZ" - RECLAIMED:

MYSTIC THEATRE

2014

"THE DARK SIDE OF OZ" - FIELD TRIP!

ZODIACKS

2015

"THE DARK SIDE OF OZ" - SOMEWHERE OVER THE WALL:

AUBERGINE

2016

"THE DARK SIDE OF OZ" - SPECIAL ED CLASS:

PHOENIX THEATER

2017

"THE DARK SIDE OF OZ" - NEVER SAY NEVER:

REDWOOD CAFE

2018

"THE DARK SIDE OF OZ" - VOICES ON THE DUB SIDE:

REDWOOD CAFE

2019

NO SHOW - GONE TO BOLLYWOOD

RE4DWOOD CAFE

2021

'THE DARK SIDE OF OZ" - THE 13th CHAPTER.

"VARIATIONS FROM THE DARK SIDE"

ON-LIVE CLASS

THE OFFICIAL VMA / SYNCHRONICITY ARKIVE / STEGOKITTY - SYNC CUE LIST 1995

As the story goes... Set the "Dark Side of The Moon" CD to loop and wait. Start the DVD of "The Wizard of Oz - On the 3rd Lion roar of the MGM opening title start the CD!

Turn volume up on CD player...

and volume off on DVD player!

001 - The 1st indicator that the sync is correct is when the transition from"Speak to Me" to "Breathe"  syncs with the fade in of Producer Mervin LeRoy.

002 - "leave, but don't leave me alone"... Auntie Em appears to say "leave" to Dorothy, and she does.

003 - "look Around"... Dorothy looks around.

004 - "smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry"... 2 farm hands are laughing and the other might cry .

005 - "all you touch"... Dorothy touches the farmhands arm as he hols the bucket.

006 - "when at last the work is done"... 1 farm hard strikes his finger with the hammer. He's done.

007 - "dig that hole"... the farm hand points to the ground.

008 - "don't stand up"... Dorothy climbs on the fence.

009 - "balanced on the biggest wave"... Dorothy balances on the fence.

010 - Song Shift from "Breathe" to "On The Run" signals a scene change as well as a song change.

011 - Auntie Em shows up just as women chats away in the background of DSoTM track.

012 - The sound FX rumbling at the end of "On The Run" and the sound of distant thunder and birds in TWoOZ blends perfectly with the clouds and shafts of light.

013 - The Chimes in "Time" strike just as Elvira Gultch rides up on her bicycle and dismounts. Possible bicycle reference to Syd Barret's "Bike."

014 - Uncle Henry's paint brush seems to be ringing like a bell.

015 - SCENE CHANGE - The 1st bass chord hits as Elvira enters the house.

016 - "Time"... Continues... The score fits beautifully with the mood and tempo of the scene.

017 - Elvira points her finger on the bass chord.

018 - "kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town"... Toto escapes and heads home.

019 - "waiting for someone or something to show you the way"... Dorothy greets Toto, then leaves.

020 - "you are young and life is long"... a possible reference to Dorothy's young age.

021 - "ten years have got behind you"... You see Dorothy's back.

022 - "no one told you where to run"... Dorothy is shown running away from home.

023 - SCENE CHANGE - Guitar solo in "Time" begins on scene change.

024 - During the guitar solo of "Time" the words "Past, Present and Future" are seen on Professor Marvels advertising sign.

025 - "To come up behind you again"... Professor Marvel comes up behind Dorothy.

026 - "but you are older"... possibly referring to the Professor's age.

027 - "half a page of scribbled lines"... Possibly a photo with text that he takes from Dorothy's basket.

028 - "hanging on in quiet desperation"... Dorothy appears to be hanging on every word.

029 - SCENE CHANGE - Dorothy leaves just as "The Great Gig in the Sky" begins and runs through the entire twister scene. The "Twister Scene"one of the strongest scenes in the urban legend. David Gilmour's guitar, sounds almost like a warning siren.

030 - "I'm not frightened of dying" is heard in the background as the twister approaches.

031 - The drums kick in just as a tree gets uprooted and the scene is off...

032 - Clare Torry's wailing, keeps keeps with the mood and intensity of the twister scene and seems to display the emotions of Dorothy perfectly. Other sync cues worth mentioning are Dorothy stomping on the storm shelter doors to get in, the door flying off it's hinges,  pieces of furniture and appliances flying by the window and finally the strike on her head and the "Dream Sequence."

033 - SCENE CHANGE - The cash register sound in "Money"is heard as Dorothy opens the door to Oz, beginning the "Color = Money" metaphor. Clearly Oz is a very affluent place.

034 - "get back"... The Munchkins get back into the bush's.

035 - "don't give me any of that... do goody good bullshit" Glinda the good witch floats down in her big pink bubble.

036 - During the guitar solo of "Money" the Munchkins gather and move to the music. When one of the main Munchkins leaps forward, the music intensity grows and so does the dancing! Watch for the Munchkin who pops up from the man hole!

037 - "share it.. fair it"... One Munchkin shares a bouquet of flowers with Dorothy.

038 - During the beginning of "Us and Them" the organ plays music similar to what might be heard at a funeral as the Munchkin Coroner unrolls the death certificate.

039 - At the very beginning of "Us and Them," various voices can be heard talking to each other, at times it seems like it's the Munchkin conversation.

040 - The Lullaby League Ballerina's enter to vocal line of "us...us... us..."

041 - The Lollipop Guild boys, enter and then jerk and kick to the beat!

042 - "forward he cried"... The Munchkin officials thrusts out their hands and all seem to shout "forward" to Dorothy.

043 - "and the front rank died"... the Munchkin Soldiers rotate in marching rank and then stop.

044 - "moved from side to side"... The Munchkins seem to move from left to right and side to side.

045 - "black and blue"... On "black" the witch appears wearing black and as blue echos, we see Dorothy wearing blue.

046 - "and who knows which is which"... or witch is witch?

047 - "up"... The Witches broom sticks points up

048 - "down, down, down"... The Witches broom stick points down

049 -  "and in the end it's only round and round"... As Glinda points to Dorothy's red slippers they appear to repeat a scene and go round and round.

051 - "have you heard it's a battle of words"... Glinda appears to whisper into Dorothy's ear and then returns to the battle of words with the Wicked Witch.

052 - "listen son, said the man with the gun"... The Wicked Witches hand is in the shape of a gun.

053 - "and out"... Glinda departs in her pink bubble...

054 - On "with"... Dorothy begins walking with Toto in her arms. On "without"... she puts him down.

055 - "out of the way, it's a busy day and I've got things on my mind"... It is a busy day indeed as Dorothy gathers with the Munchkins and dances out of town.

056 - SCENE CHANGE: "Us and Them" into "Any colour You Like"

 

057 - "the lunatic is on the grass"... Well, the scarecrow is made of grass and he's certainly acting like he's smoked it!

058 - "you raised the blade" A toucan in the tree raises his blade like beak.

059 - "thunder in your ear"... the apple trees are certainly yelling at Dorothy.

060 - "all that you touch" once again Dorothy touches a mans arm.

061 - "all that you see"... Dorothy and the Scarecrow both see the oil can.

062 - Dorothy listens for a heart beat from the Tin Mans chest as the end of DSoTM ends and then begins it's 2nd repetition.

063 - In the beginning of the 2nd repetition of DSoTM, the heart beat is heard as the Tin Man sings "If I only had a heart."

064 -

THE AUGUST 1st 1995 FORT WAYNE JOURNAL GAZETTE - DSOTR

Originally published August 1, 1995
Copyright 1995, The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
The Dark Side of the Rainbow:
Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. The film version of "The Wizard of Oz." Two profoundly successful pieces of pop art you would think are completely unrelated. Yet there exists a connection - no, really a synchronicity - between the two that escapes logic or understanding.

By Charles Savage,
Let lapse, momentarily, your reason and your belief in a sense of order to the universe. (Suspend, too, your belief that we might be doing some very serious drugs.)

Then rent "The Wizard of Oz," turn off your television sound, put Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon in your CD player on loop and press play at the exact moment the MGM lion roars for the 3rd time.

The result is astonishing. It's as if the movie were one long art-film music video for the album. Song lyrics and titles match the action and plot. The music swells and falls with character's movements.
Don't expect to be overwhelmed. But do expect to see enough firm coincidences to make you wonder whether the whole thing was planned. And expect to see many more coincidences that would be definite reaches if it weren't for other parts lining up so well.

If you're not really familiar with The Dark Side of the Moon, it will help to have a lyric sheet handy. But always keep an eye to the TV, lest you miss something. (Don't try the pause-play-pause game; being three or four seconds off would really neutralize the effect.)

Half the fun of exploring this marvel is watching with a group of friends and shouting out the correlations as you make connections. So we won't spell out all the details. here, however, are a few major examples just to get you started:

• During "Breathe," Dorothy does a tightrope-like walk along the holding pen to the lyric "and balanced on the biggest wave."
• The line "no one told you when to run" from "Time" is sung just as the scene switches to Dorothy running away from home to save Toto.
• "Home, home again" from the "Breathe" reprise is sung as Dorothy tells Professor Marvel that she's going home.
• "Don't give me that do goody good bullshit" from "Money" comes as Glinda the Good Witch of the North floats in as a bubble.
• "Black... and blue" from "Us and Them" is sung as the Wicked Witch of the West appears dressed in black. That is shortly followed by "and who knows which is which" (witch is witch) as she and Glenda confront each other.
• "Brain Damage" - which begins at almost the same time as the movie's "If I Only Had a Brain" contains the lines "The lunatic is on the grass" and "Got to keep the loonies on the path." This is just as the Scarecrow flops around like a madman on the grass and then on the Yellow Brick Road.

The numerous lyrical coincidences between the movie and the album are only part of the story. Often, the actions seems choreographed to the music.

For example, the wordless moan-singing of "The Great Gig in the Sky" is almost perfectly matched with the tornado scene, rising as the storm gathers, falling to a lullaby when Dorothy is knocked out by the window, rising again as the house spins up in the sky, then falling again as the house returns to earth.

The song begins with the gathering storm and ends just as the house hits the ground. Dorothy gets up in silence, walks through the house, and then just as she opens the door to reveal Technicolor Munchkinland, the opening sound effects of "Money" startle the listener. (Moreover, "Money" was the first song on the LP's second side; Munchkinland is the opening of part two of the film.)
And then there is the clincher: The album's dramatic ending heartbeats sound as Dorothy listens to the Tin Woodsman's empty chest. It's bizarre, uncanny. And it's more than a little puzzling.

There is no obvious reason why a classic art-rock album recorded in 1973 would be even remotely related to the 1939 film, which is based on the story by L. Frank Baum.

After all, it's hard to imagine Roger Waters, Dave Gilmour & Co. painstakingly writing their music to the movie's timing. It's even harder to imagine that a band so gimmickry-minded (it stuck a blinking LED light on the CD packaging of its latest release, PULSE, for example) would keep quiet for 22 years if it had done it purposefully. And at least for now, no one is talking. Several calls and a faxed request to a Pink Floyd publicist at Columbia Records were unanswered.

A slightly less inside source, Fred Meyer, the secretary of the International Wizard of Oz Club, said this: "What? I don't know anything about that." He added that he had never even heard of Pink Floyd.
All of which makes the origin twice as shrouded in mystery. Why would anyone just randomly play the album over the the film, timed with the MGM lion's roar?

In April [1995], someone posted about it on the Internet Pink Floyd newsgroup, saying he or she'd heard about it from "some people down in Los Angeles." Most users told the poster to go back to his drugs. And a recent posting on the alt.music.pink-floyd newsgroup asking for help in the mystery produced no clues to the origin of the oddity.

In the end, the synchronization was either intentional or a cosmic coincidence - the musical equivalent of the "Infinite Monkeys on Infinite Typewriters Eventually Producing the Complete Works of Shakespeare" effect.

Perhaps all it means is that when everything under the sun is in tune, including two pieces of cult-status entertainment seemingly completely separated by time and genre, it will seem as strange as when the sun is eclipsed by a moon.

BOLLYWOOD NIGHTS - THE LIVE DANCE EXTRAVAGANZA

Bollywood Nights

Today, in order to prepare myself and my fellow travelers for this new 2019 production that I am calling "Bollywood Nights," I have decided to lay out my complete vision for the upcoming Saturday August 24th live performance date. My hope is that this chapter will inspire & inform not only my fellow dancers/actors in this production, but by revealing my creative point of view, it may bring you closer into the center of your own personal creative process as well. "Bollywood Nights" may be a new production to you perhaps, but it has been in development for well over a decade.

On that note my friends allow me to introduce you to our "Bollywood Nights!" A full stage, full screen dance extravaganza scheduled this Summer at The Redwood Cafe in Cotati! Sat. 8/24/19

Technically this 2 part, 2 hour live stage presentation will include the use of my big 10x10' movie projection screen as well as full 1080HD projected presentations of my Bollywood syncs shown on stage with live dancers/actors flanking each side of the screen. Our actors/dancers on stage loosely represent the main characters of the story line of our performance... the classic Hindu story of "Ramayana of Valmiki." Rama & Sita, as well as the animation & story line of "Sita Sings the Blues" act as a song narrative through out our show. Where I believe the concept gets the most interesting is that all of the mash ups that I'm using represent western culture pop, rock & hip hop dance music anthems and the lyrics, which can be very different than the intended Indian story lines and can be hilarious and sometimes mind altering.

Every good story has it's characters, hosted by your Professor, It is my pleasure to announce my 2 lead actor/dancers playing the parts of Sita and Rama in "Bollywood Nights"... will be Kimberley Charp (Kimberley Charp) (Sita) and Patrick Malone (Patrick PJ Malone) (Rama). Kimberley, is well trained in the art belly dancing and burlesque, while Patrick rules the stage when fronting numerous rock bands in the Bay area. Together they will make a dynamic team and as we'll all find out... sparks will fly!

As I have explained my concept to them and now to all of you, The purpose of the actors/dancers on stage is two fold, it's not necessarily to dance like a Bollywood dancer, it's more about interpreting the western culture song lyrics with movement, while engaged with each other and the interacting with the audience. For the actor/dancers, there are no vocal speaking parts in the entire show... their dialog comes primarily from knowing the lyrics to western culture dance classics and interpreting those lyrics in hand & body movement. Since all of the dialog on my music mash-up already look like a bad dubbed B movies, anything even close to the original lyrics looks correct :-)

As I tend to do in my productions, I wrap my entire life and art into one big public demonstration.
Love, laughter & hope... all of the ingredients for any person to fall in love with their Muse are here for you to discover! The good news for me this year is that for the 1st time I will be able to multi-cam video record this event,  making it even more of a public spectacle for all to enjoy... for the dancers who dance on their feet, and those of us who dance like crazy in our heads!

There are obviously a lot of aspects that I don't want to reveal here, because it will be all about the moment for those of you who are supposed to be there. This presentation will be a high energy dance show with limited seating, no advance pre-sale tickets all in a intimate limited capacity room.

$10 door - Dancer's Come in costume and you're in FREE!
Saturday August 24th - The Redwood Cafe in Cotati Ca. USA.

After a 12 year urban legend run, There is no "Dark Side of Oz" this year class...
it's a class field trip and we are all going to Bollywood!

8:00 - PM door w/ DJ Ron
8:30 - BN Part #1
9:30 - 9:45 w/ DJ Ron
9:45 - BN Part #2
10:45 - Encore?
11pm - end.

 Bollywood Nights FB Event Page

The Professor on facebook

Bollywood Nights Page

Bollywood Nights Web Site

A Quick guide to the Ramayana

SO... WHY A SINGER SONGWRITER COMPETITION?

I knew in January, when I started this years "Sonoma County Singer Songwriter Competition" that I was delaying, once again the release of my Ebook "Another Day, Another Decibel," but then again it always has been a work in progress... Either way, it gives me the opportunity to develop yet another chapter in my book, story and life... so please bare with me and enjoy my latest project... I am :-)

While on the promo trail for our upcoming "Sonoma County Singer Songwriter Competition,"
I recently did an on-air radio interview with Brian Griffith, Program Director for @ KRCB Public Radio in Sonoma County. Brian posed the question that a few people have asked me...

"Why a Singer Songwriter Competition?"

I had thought about this idea for a long time before proposing it to Michael McCullough, one of the two outstanding owners of Redwood Cafe in Cotati. It's a great formula for live entertainment and one that I like to think of as a self generating event... in theory, if you have a lot of connected people, given the proper tools to help promote the event you can get some great results. Sounds simple, but it's a lot like cat herding... and what makes this formula work? The answer is community, and when you embrace and build a Community you get a greater understanding and the ability to reach a goal together, two very important social skills right now.

 OK, so why a competition? I personally don't believe that musical competitions are supposed to be delegated to only individual instruments or full battle bands, believe me, I've done my fair share of fiddlers festivals and battling bands? As an audio Engineer for over 30 years I've always looked for the 1 ingredient that makes the song work. I've always pointed towards the core of what it takes to make a good Singer Songwriter... the song. From there it all boils down to one word "honesty!"

"With some performers, honesty transcends musical ability or excellence.

Honesty is it's own state of perfection and there is no score for that."

"There are a lot of other ways to feature Singer Songwriter's, open mics, singer in the round an opening act. But few offer the artist the opportunity to have the focus on their craft that a 

competition does. The Judges and the audience are "there" to listen and that's a prize in itself."

In producing this event I have spoken with more than one potential contestant and even a music business in this community competition that where virtually offended at the word "competition,"
as if it were akin to other scary words like "Communism" or "Commercialism." I prefer to think of competition as more of an "opportunity" to exchange our craft and network with friends. As I've mentioned at everyone of our "SoCo Comp" nights... "There are no winners and there are no losers in this competition, there's only 1 Top Contestant each night and they move on to inspire the next. It's through this "competition" that we stand side by side on a level playing field, exchange our thoughts and learn from one another... No one reinvents the wheel and as I replied to a few nay-sayer's and repeated on air at the KRCB and the KRSH Radio interviews...

"This is an opportunity to work together on a common creative goal... we are building a human pyramid of talented local Artists, and when we are done standing each others backs, we will have created the very best Encore Performance show possible." 

The ultimate goal of this event is to establish a greater focus for our local artists. I designed the event to give all of the contestants the opportunity to showcase their work and potentially raise their game. "The Grand Prize" is not $10,000 or a shiny new guitar, it's the awareness that your efforts, both individual and as a community member have been realized.  As part of this competition all of the Contestants will receive not only unlimited networking with other Singer Songwriters and music business professionals but professional quality photos and videos from our Counties finest music photographers... Jason Baldwin and Cheryl Alterman and at leaset 1 of every contestant's songs are being streamed LIVE on facebook for the world to see.  These tools offer the contestant the opportunity to review and critic their work at a later date as well as promotional tools for the future.

As for the future, even at half way point of this competition this event has been huge success and I am working on the details to make this an annual event. Frankly I'm having so much fun that I would run it all year if I could. My hope is that this inspires our County Artists to seek out, attend and support our County's other outstanding musical platforms like "Singer in a Round" or organizations like "West Coast Songwriters." My congratulations and heartfelt thank you's go out to all of our Contestants as well as our Judges for their contribution of time, art and energy. A special thank you to each and every person who has stepped up to help and attend these shows... on stage or off stage it is living proof of a growing Community.

So, take the advice of a fake Professor and don't let a few little words scare you in life...

Competition is good... greed is bad!

Photos and participants below are "STILL IN PROGRESS"

PHOTOS FROM ROUND #1

All courtesy of Jason Baldwin

MARCH 1ST

  

FEB 22ND

FEB 15TH

FEB 8TH

FEB 1ST

 

SAN FRANSICO MAGAZINE - August 2016 Interview

Published August of 2016 in the San Francisco Magazine

"A COSMIC WINK"

Listen to Randy Teaford for any length of time and you might easily be convinced that it's not just the drugs talking, Teaford - or, as he is known on stage as "The Professor"- is a master of audio visual synchronicity, and his masterpiece is a yearly staging of the dorm room legend "The Dark Side of Oz," this year at The Redwood Cafe in Cotati Ca. Surely you've heard of, or maybe even tried, syncing the audio of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of The Moon" with the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz." But trust us - you haven't seen it done like this!

Teaford has presented his Oz remix for 12 years running, with incremental tweaks and improvements each year. The result is, well, trippy man. For instance, the lyric "balanced on the biggest wave" in "Breath" (in the air) lines up with Dorothy balancing atop a Kansas fence. Latter, the ethereal wailing in "The Great Gig in the Sky" is a perfect backdrop for Dorothy being caught in the twister. And the line "home, home again" (from "Time") plays when Professor Marvel tells Dorothy to - you guessed it - head home.

Teaford's biggest modification to the urban legend is the inclusion of all of the dialog and sound effects from "The Wizard of Oz" mixed into Pink Floyd's score. Another variation is to interject the 2nd half of "The Wall" midway through the film. (In sync, it takes 2 1/2 repetitions of DSOTM to equal the length of TWOOz.)

"It's like a cosmic wink," he says. There's no way this was ever preconceived; it just happened.
The amazing thing is that someone found it. It is The Mother of all Syncs!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 13th Chapter "The Dark Side of Oz"

  Class of 2020

The Redwood Cafe, Cotati CA. - 8pm Door - 9pm educational screening.

It's always FREE for those who are supposed to be there!

,

DINNER & A MOVIE - Why Dinner & A Movie?

During my time at The Mystic Theatre as Production Manager & Chief Engineer, I put the concept of serving dinner and watching a movie on the big screen (30'x40') in the theater on the desk of owner and booking agent Ken O'Donnell a number of times, but I never could get him to agree to the concept. I think it created a conflict for him, even on one the off nights. At the last moment a big name band may pop up at the last monthly moment and well... no movies! There were of course a few adventure films and film festival events and of course my annual urban legend screening of "The Dark Side of Oz" that I produced there for 8 years, but sadly through the years very little was done with the movie theater aspect of The Mystic Theatre.

I did my best in the 15 years that I was there to treat The Mystic like the grand old movie house that it was by making my own theater trailers and eventually own music/video syncs as live pre-show door time entertainment just to push the movie house vibe and give the patrons something to point at (think Gene Kelly in "Singing in the Rain" mixed with Billy Idol's "Dancing by Myself".) Those experiments with the pre-show audio & video entertainment taught me a lot about audience interaction with the screen and also taught me a few good lessons about having a captive audience.

This feature that I developed for The Mystic led me into a full time artistic path, producing and releasing original Music/Video Syncs as well as having the good fortune of being able to feature my original art work nightly in front of hundreds of unsuspecting people! During this period I was also very busy setting up multiple youtube channels for the viewing of my syncs on-line. It just made sense to be able to pass my card along to curious patrons and say "most of my syncs are right here."

Those youtube sites are still up and running today and attract viewers from all around the world daily. It's precisely for that reason that I will be featuring my "Best Of Syncs" at my new "Dinner and a Movie" Series that I'll tell you more next.

HOME PLANET @
www.ViralMediaArt.com

VIRAL MEDIA ART - SYNC TV@
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0t6vRxIc_JJ__iiK1vrrtA

BOLLYWOOD - SYNC TV @
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCspjJEzVv4YWbZdl-_VGeEw



Dinner and a Movie... I've been wanting to do this for years...

"DINNER AND A MOVIE"

1st, you have to be optimistic and find a large room that will seat and hold a few hundred people, one that has a full dinner menu, good service and a large drink selection. The venue has to have proper sound and lighting and of course a large big screen or at least a location to place one for movie viewing. I haven't even mentioned one of the hardest elements to find, the requirement of a long term, like minded venue owner that has the community's best interest at heart.

I was recently contacted by Andre de Channes at KRSH Radio in Santa Rosa about a local venue in Cotati that was planning an expansion and wanted to know if I was available to come down and give the new system and stage a once over and offer any advice. Many of you are aware that I've had my hands and ears involved in quite a few of our County venues through the years, namely "The Studio KAFE" and "Magnolia's" in Santa Rosa as well as "The Inn of The Beginning" in Cotati and of course "The Mystic Theatre" in Petaluma. Apparently the rumors of my retirement are greatly exaggerated and of course I was very interested in the prospects of helping with the upgrade of yet another County treasures, "The Redwood Café" with long time owner Michael McCullaugh. As with any good venue, it's a work in progress and the results of that discussion are now the expanded stage and a re-designed sound and video system currently in the works, in a town that I dearly love... Cotati.

As The Professor, I'm looking forward to staging my "Dinner and a Movie" night once a month at The Redwood Café. The 1st of the series will feature "The Big Lebowski" on Tuesday June 28th followed by "Spinal Tap" on Tuesday July 26th from 6-10pm. This not only gives me the chance to dawn on my Professor robe but also offers you the opportunity to see some of the very best Cult/Classic movies and a way to introduce you to my illegitimate art of music/video syncs.

The Redwood Café is set up for dinner table seating and will feature a full menu and beverages for the entire evening as well as FREE POPCORN for everyone! A minimal $5 cover is requested (dinner not included.) Dinner seating @ 6pm - The Professor @ 6:30 - followed by our feature "The Big Lebowski" (Adult content warning) @ 7pm sharp - Costume Contest @ 9pm - Syncs till 10pm.
I've planned a costume contest for the best "Dude" or "Stranger" with a generous $30 gift certificate from The Redwood Café to the winner, followed by The Professor's music/video syncs until 10pm.

Well there it is and I'll leave you with this thought... A venue is only as good as the community that attends it. Get out more often and support live music and live entertainment. Put down your devices and connect with faces and maybe, just maybe we'll see you at the 1st "Dinner and a Movie" night on Tuesday evening June 28th at The Redwood Café in the colorful town of Cotati...

      Bon Appetite' - THE PROFESSOR

DINNER AND A MOVIE - FB PAGE @
https://www.facebook.com/dinnerandamovie1/

DINNER AND A MOVIE - FB GROUP @
https://www.facebook.com/groups/991503800903194/

THE BIG LEBOWSKI - FB EVENT PAGE @
https://www.facebook.com/events/967871859948826/

SPINAL TAP - FB EVENT PAGE @
https://www.facebook.com/events/1051626401582851/